Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (508 page)

Egyptian god of Memphis, and head of the triad of Memphis. Represented as a mummified man standing inside a shrine, holding his staff or measuring rod, and wearing an amulet. He was one of the great creator gods, who created the world by thought and speech. He was also associated with craftsmen as their patron god, and, as Ptah-Sokar, with the dead. The Greeks equated him with Hephaestus.

 
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A substantial administrative, economic, social, religious, and cultural centre providing official residences for royalty, royal priests, and their retainers. Typically, palaces were constructed using imposing architectural traditions and were lavishly decorated.

 
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Adjectival prefix denoting that something is old or ancient; for example, palaeo-channel—an old river channel. From the Greek
palaeos meaning ‘ancient’.

 
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General term covering a heterogeneous collection of communities living in the Arctic region of North America and Siberia from
c.
8000 to 5000 bc. Recognized by distinctive microlithic blade-based assemblages of chipped stone tools, wedge-shaped cores, bifacial knives, scrapers, and occasional fluted projectile points.
The subsistence base was mainly hunting and gathering: the main resources exploited included bison, horse, elk, and caribou. Many Palaeo-Arctic sites will have been lost to rising sea levels during the Holocene.

 
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A person who studies ancient plant remains from archaeological sites or environmental sequences.

 
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The study of ancient plant remains, mainly using charred, waterlogged, or desiccated seeds, plant fibre, leaves, wood, or fruit. The impressions left by plant remains in clay or other plastic materials can also be useful.

 
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